“Take that, it’s on the roof”: Steve Smith’s mammoth six off Tim David lands at Blundstone Arena roof in BBL 12

The fact that Sydney Sixers batter Steven Smith is the seventh highest run-scorer in Big Bash League 12 despite having played only four innings (as compared to 13 by batters above him) speaks highly about his current form.

Smith, one of the best batters of the modern-day generation, is not famously known for his T20 skills. Having said that, the right-handed batter has been successfully able to dump his own reputation with respect to the shortest format in whatever people have seen of him in BBL 2022-23 thus far.

Smith’s 22nd and sixth T20 and BBL half-century respectively played a vital role in powering Sixers to 180/7 in 20 overs in the ongoing match against Hobart Hurricanes at the Bellerive Oval.

Not only opening the batting with wicket-keeper batter Joshua Philippe (8) but also covering for his substandard strike rate of 50, Smith took the hosts’ bowlers to the cleaners scoring 66 (33) consisting of four fours and six sixes.

Steve Smith’s mammoth six off Tim David lands at Blundstone Arena roof

Smith, who batted at a strike rate of 200, hit 16 runs off one Joel Paris delivery to get going in only the second over. In the following over, Smith welcomed Hobart spinner Patrick Dooley with a six on the leg side.

Showing no signs of playing the anchor role, as he has done for a majority of his T20 career, Smith hit consecutive sixes off Hurricanes fast bowler Riley Meredith in the fifth over of the innings.

HH captain Matthew Wade’s decision of introducing a part-time spinner in Tim David right after the powerplay couldn’t stop Smith either. In fact, the 33-year old player hit the biggest of his six sixes in this over. A well-timed typical slog off an off-spinner further saw Smith dictating terms as the ball traveled as far as the roof of the Blundstone Arena.

“Well, that was right in the slot as Steve Smith obliges. Take that, it’s on the roof,” Fox Sports commentator Isa Guha said enthusiastically to define Smith’s shot.

Smith, who completed a 22-ball half-century on the next ball, lost his wicket to all-rounder Faheem Ashraf’s harmless full-toss. Having missed the ball altogether, Smith was ruled out lbw in the ninth over. Had Smith extended his stay by a few overs or had the visitors not put on display a middle-order collapse, they would have easily touched the 200-run mark on Monday.